Automatic control of slips of drill pipe strings of sounding holes



Dec. 15, 1953 v. EDELBERG 2,652,737

AUTOMATIC CONTROL OF SLIP-S OF DRILL.

PIPE STRINGS 0F SOUNDING HOLES Filed Jan. 51, 1947 2 Sheets-Sheet 1lNVENTOR Vlad/m)" Ede/berg A TTORNE Y Dec. 15, 1953 v. EDELBERGAUTOMATIC CONTROL OF SLIPS 0F DRILL PIPE STRINGS OF SOUNDING HOLES 2Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Jan. 31, 1947 m/ R w o e T N f W W .m X: MW 3 v 2mm Q .9 9 i-L s/ mh. m 1 I S L w 3 ATTOF? N E Y Patented Dec. 15, 1953AUTOMATICGONTROL. OF SLIPS F PIPE STRINGS 0E SQUNDING HOLESwaaimnmaberg, Tunis, Tunisia Application January 31, 1941.; Serial725,422

The present invention has relation to deep well equipment andmoreparticularly' to the elevating mechanism whereby the tube or casingis lowered into h ll or hoisted therefrom a c rding. t requirements,

In the sounding, bore hole industry various pipes, such as drill-pipestrings and well tube casings must be installed, and removed. from thewell. Such pipes. or tubes consistof joints which are connected;together by couplings, and as the pipes. are installed in or removedfrom.v the, well, they must be either screwed together or disconnected.For the. purpose of supporting the pipe during the making or. breaking,of. a joint, it

is common practice. to. employ slips resting in a conical seat. Usually,said conical seat. is, pro.- vided by a spider (or other suitable. bodysuch as a. rotary table of a rotary. machine).. Com.- monly two, threeor four slips are. used. insur porting a pipe.v During, thetime a. pipeis raised or lowered so that another joint may be made or broken, theslips are withdrawn from their conical seat. At. the present time.several. operators are required to place. and to. withdraw said slips,

Heretofore it has been. proposed to simplify the respective operations.by arranging, a set of two arm. levers surrounding said conical. slipseat. and being. pivotally connected to a part wherein said conicalseat. is secured. The. slips are hinged at. the inner ends of horizontalarms of said. levers so as to. be; placed or withdrawn according to therespective movements of, said levers. In this manner the-slips maybeallowed to wedge down and will. then. support said drill.- pipe stem,so that theportion of'the; stern above the slips may bev unscrewed. andliftediree, for the insertion or withdrawal of, an. intermediate pipe ortube section.

Notwithstanding, all ,theselabor: saving slip control devices wereoperated manually, qiuite independently from the. other functions of thedrilling apparatus.

To avoid any untimelywithdrawing of the slips, special means have beendevised comprising a special heavy tablewitha central aperturesurrounding the drilT-pipe string, said string; being suspended therein;said table, if lowered, compressing a. spring controlled slip operatingdevice so as to prevent the fall of the lower part of the tubing; 01:piping: into the: well, when. its part above the slips ceases to besupported by the hoisting or other suspending gear provided in the:derrick. The disadvantage of these devices:

consists in the feature that screwing andunscrewing operations of thepiping or tubing may be effected quite independently, and without regard to the actual positions of the slips, nothing 2 Claims. (CF.2'55-23)" 2 necti-ngarld' falling of their lower parts into the well;

The. object of the present invention is to create means tending toobviate any disconnecting operation on the upper part of' the piping. ortubing so, long as, the complete safety of. its lower pa t-is. not. ascrta n y wedeins t e. slips in their. working, positions within thesaidlconi'cal seat. It aims especially at. the conjointed use of the newautomatic slip. control device with the. tongs, for pipe joints, iorinstance automatic tongs (accordingto the copending. application of.applicant, filed. January. 31st, 19 17,, under Serial; No.. 725,421, newPatent. No. 2,566,561, issued September 4, 1.951),, so'that the.latter.- or.- di-narily. will not be. operated so long; as the slips arenot firmly wedged, and. reciprocally the. slips ordinarily will not. be,withdrawn. so lon s the platiorm with. the. screwing. tongs, is inv a.raised position.

To thisend one. feature of. the present. invention. embraces acombination comprising a. table with a central aperture to receive-thedrill. pipe string, slips. surrounding-the same, each. of these slipshanging on the end of a horizontal arm of a. bell-crank. lever pivotallysecured to. saidable, theother arm. of. said lever being shorter andordinarily held in a; more or less; upright position, and a:- platformsuperposed.- above the said. table, said platform carrying the tongs.to: make and break the pipe or-tube joints. Ordinarily said platformreposes with. alt its weightupon. the shorter arms of said lever,keeping. the slips. withdrawnirom. their. Seats so as. to enable thedrill.- pipe string tobe displaced or rotated freely; However, in. thisposition. all screwing: and-1m.- screw-ing means. carried. by theplatform are immobilized and. remain inoperative. whereas; on lifting,the. platform, the: levers; being, freed, the slips drop down. intovtheir respective seats: to Secure fix dly th d l-P p s ng and immobieizing it for entire time: when the platform ishoisted inits raisedposition.

Other objectsand. advantages of. the; invention will. become evident in,the ensuing description, the same being taken inconnection with theaccompanying; drawings;

While the drawings illustrate. an embodiment. or the. present invention,it is to be: und'ertsood that in adapting, the same to meet di-fierentcon:- ditions. and requirements, various changes in the shape,proportion, and minor details oil construc.- tion may be, resorted towithout departing; from the spiritv of the. invention. i

in thedrawings. chosen for the purpose of illustrating the presentinvention, the scope whereof is pointed out inv the followingdescription and claims,

Flga 1' shows. a perspective view of the appll.--

being providedto avoidan untimely disconance as a whole.

Fig. 2 represents a semi-sectional view of the tongs device in itsoperative position, the slips gripping the drill-pipe string.

Fig. 3 is a semi-sectional view of the platform with the screwingapparatus in its inoperative position, the slips wedged on thedrill-pipe string.

Like symbols refer to like parts wherever they may occur.

In the drawings, the three slips I, l, I", are respectively attached tothe inner ends of the long horizontal arms 2, 2, 2" of the bell cranklever. These are pivotally fixed on the rotary table 3 at 4, 4 and 4".The ends of the short, more or less upright arms 5, 5, '5" are providedwith cushions 6, 6, 6", pivoted thereon by means of axles l6, 16', I6",provided with springs [1, I7 and IT". The slips I, I and I" engagewithin a convenient recess or seat within the table 3, e. g., in a ring7 with a conical aperture so as to clamp the pipe 8 of the drill-pipestring.

The screwing and unscrewing tongs for pipe and tube joints according tothe abovementioned copending application are shown at 9. To understandthe operation here it will suffice, without it being necessary todescribe them again, to state that they are substantially constituted inthe following manner. On a platform I0, which can be operated verticallyby hydraulic pistons II, are arranged two rings carrying internallymobile jaws l2-|3, (Fig. 2). These jaws can be pressed, with the aid ofhand-levers on to the two parts [4, [5 of a joint. Electric motors l9,secured to the lower jaw-ring on which they rest, make the upperjaw-ring turn to screw or unscrew the joint |4|5. When the jaws l2, I3are withdrawn from the joint, there exists in the center of the tongs anempty space of a diameter 500-700 cm.

The functioning of the slip opening device is as follows:

At the beginning of the running-in trip the pipe 8 is clamped betweenthe slips I, the block is then unhooked, the upper joint I5 of the pipe8 is about 1 meter above the rotary table 3, and the tongs 9 are at thelevel of the joint. A further pipe 8 already being suspended to theblock, is then screwed to the string that has in the meanwhile beenclampedby the slips, the screwing being done by the tong mechanism. Thejoint having been made, the tong mechanism is untightened and the tongcarrying platform I is lowered so as to engage, at the recess [8, thecushions 6 of the shorter lever arms and to press them down into theposition as shown in Fig. 3. By this action the more or less horizontallonger lever arms are lifted to withdraw th slips I attached thereto.They leave their conical seat 7 remain within the central cavity of theplatform for the entire operation of the drillpipe string. The platforml0 carrying the tongs is situated at that moment about 5 cm. above therotary table, and as the height of the tongs does not surpass 30 to 40cm., the joint I 4l5, the middle of which is at about 1 m. above thetable, is completely clear of the tongs.

To hoist the drill-pipe string, the platform I0 is lifted into theposition as shown in Fig. 2, level with the joint |4l5, the slipsdropping back into their conical seat I. The action of the blockceasing, the slips will automatically Wedge the string. Upon unscrewingthe joint and removal of the second pipe 8', the platform I0 may belowered again so as to touch the cushions 6 and to withdraw the slips.In this position the upper 4 end l5 of the pipe 8 is sufnciently abovethe tongs so as to enable the hoisting gear to be fixed thereto, and tolift the entire drill-pipe string into a position where the next pipe 8may be disconnected therefrom.

As is evident, the automatic slip control device above described is verysimple, and if operated in conjunction with the screwing and unscrewingappliance according to the previously mentioned application, specialcontrol means (as they are required if operating a derrick of actualdesign) may be avoided without any danger of a premature opening of theslips.

What I claim is:

1. In an automatic slip control appliance of drill-pipe strings forsounding holes, a combination comprising a rotary table with a centralaperture for the passage of said pipe string and a conical seat arrangedcoaxially thereto to receive said drill-pipe string, a plurality ofslips disposed around said string and lodged within said conical seat,bell-crank levers to support said slips and having their bends pivotallysecured to said table, each of said levers comprising a longsubstantially horizontal arm to the end of which is pivotally attached aslip, and a short substantially vertical arm, a platform adapted to bedisplaced vertically above said table, tongs supported by said platformfor making and breaking the joints of pipe string, means for raising andlowering said platform to bring it in operative relation with saidvertical short arms of the bell-crank levers, whereby said levers arecaused to swing and the slips are lifted out of their conical seat whensaid platform is lowered, and a central aperture provided in saidplatform to receive the slips in their lifted positions.

2. In an automatic slip control appliance of drill-pipe strings forsounding holes, a combination comprising a rotary table with a centralaperture for the passage of said pipe string and a conical seat arrangedcoaxilly thereto to receive said drill-pipe string, a plurality of slipsdisposed around said string and lodged within said conical seat,bell-crank levers to support said slips and having their bends pivotallysecured to said table, each of said levers comprising a longsubstantially horizontal arm to the end of which is pivotally attached aslip, and a short substantially vertical arm, a contact cushion providedat the outer end of each of said short vertical arms by means of aspring loaded pivotal attachment, a tongs carrying platform adapted tobe displaced vertically above said table, means for raising and loweringsaid platform, a plurality of recesses provided on the under face ofsaid platform to engage the said cushions pivoted on the bell cranklevers, whereby said levers are caused to swing and the slips are liftedout of their conical seat when said platform is lowered, and a centralaperture provided in said platform to receive the slips in their liftedposition.

VLADIIVIIR EDELBERG.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NumberName Date 1,111,535 Greve Sept. 22, 1914 1,517,979 Greathouse Dec. 2,1924 1,685,284 Harding Sept. 25, 1928 2,263,267 Franklin Nov. 18, 19412,545,627 Moore Mar. 20, 1951

